Spent ammunition eliminating means



p 8, 1948. G. K. RICHARDSON SPENT AMMUNITION ELIMINATING MEANS 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed July 3, 1944 Z w F /0 [m/enfw" Geo geRichardson Sept. 28, 1948- e. K. RICHARDSON 2,450,58'

SPENT AMMUNITION ELIMINATING MEANS 7 Original Filed July 3, 1944 3Sheets-Sheet 2 p 1943- I e. K. RICHARDSON 2,450,058

SPENT AMMUNITION ELIMINATING MEANS Original Filed July s, 1944 ssheets-sheet 5 Fig. 3.

O n 1 Q a 76 74 72 imjemar George K. Richardson B is A2 'rzqy PatentedSept. 28, 1948 STATES ATENT OFFICE SPENT AMIVIUNITION ELIMINATING MEANSGeorge K. Richardson, Wenham, Mass., assignor to United Shoe MachineryCorporation, Flemington, N. 3., a corporation of New Jersey 3 Claims.

This invention relates to ordnance and is herein illustrated in itsapplication to means for eliminating spent ammunition elements fromairplane gun mounts.

In a four gun mount, a considerable volume of spent ammunition elementsis accumulated in a short period of fire particularly when the spentammunition elements include, in addition to the empty cartridge cases,the metallic links which connected the cartridges together to form theammunition belt. Since there is no suitable space in the tail portion ofan airplane for storage, even temporarily, of the large volume of spentammunition elements delivered from a four gun mount, suitable provisionmust be made for the elimination from the airplane of the spentammunition elements immediately upon their delivery from the gun.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to make suitableprovision for the elimination of spent ammunition elements from a gunmount such, for example, as the airplane gun mount illustrated anddescribed in my copending application for United States Letters PatentSerial No. 543,345, filed on July 3, 1944, of which the presentapplication is a division.

To this end, the present invention in one aspect thereof consists in theprovision, in a gun mount having a plurality of guns constructed andarranged for movements in azimuth and in elevation, of a column on whichthe guns are supported for movement in elevation, chutes for conductingspentammunition elements from the guns, a flexible conductor one end ofwhich is connected to said chutes, and a ring secured to the column andarranged to provide a mounting for the other end of said flexibleconductor, said ring having an opening through which spent ammunitionelements pass from the flexible conductor. In the illustrated assembly,the ring registers with an opening in the *bottom of the fuselage of theairplane through which spent ammunition elements are eliminated. In theillustrated gun mount each gun is provided with two rigid chutes one ofwhich receives empty cartridge cases while the other receives themetallic links which connect the cases together. In the illustratedconstruction two flexible conductors are provided one at each side ofthe column and a common outlet is provided for the rigid chutes at eachside of the column, said outlet being attached to the receiving endportion of the flexible conductor. The flexible construction of theconductor attached to the rigid chutes permits free expansion andcontraction of said gether by heads or end plates 20.

2 conductor during movements of the gun assembly in elevation.

These and other features of the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of a gun mount, embodying the features ofthe present invention, taken from a point outside the airplane andlooking in the general direction of the bores of the guns;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the gun mount illustrated in Fig. l withthe fuselage of the airplane shown in section and the central portionsof the guns broken away, the extremelimits of movements of the guns inelevation being diagrammatically shown; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the gun mount taken from the gunnersposition, the flexible conductors of spent ammunition elements beingomitted and the guns being shown in a downturned position but centrallylocated as to their position in azimuth.

Referring to Fig. 1, the illustrated gun mount is located in the tailportion of an airplane, a portion of the fuselage of which is indicatedby the numeral it). The gun mount is supported on a crosshead l2 securedto a rib M of the fuselage. The crosshead I2 supports a column 16 formovement on an axis extending heightwise of the airplane. Mounted on thecolumn for swinging movement on an axis extending widthwise of theairplane is a hollow cradle surrounding the column, the illustratedcradle comprising two adapters Hi the opposite ends of which are securedto- Mounted on the adapters are four .50 caliber machine guns, the boresof said guns defining four corners of a rectangle the sides of which arerespectively parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the column.Referring to Fig. 2 the adapters l8 are secured by a clamping bolt 22 toa hollow shaft 24 which turns in roller bearings mounted in the columnIt. For swinging the cradle together with the gun assembly to move theguns in elevation a hydraulically actuated piston 28 is connected to anarm 30 extending from a gear segment 32 mounted on a shaft 34 extendingthrough the column [6, and arranged to mesh with a similar segment 36mounted on the hollow shaft 25, said segment having an extension 38 theend of which has a crosshead 40 secured to the adapters i8.

For eliminating spent ammunition elements, which ordinarily compriseempty cartridge cases and metallic links which connect the cartridgestogether, each of the upper guns 42 is provided with a rigid chute 44(Fig. 2) which receives the empty cartridge cases and a smaller rigidchute 46 which receives the metallic links, and each of the lower guns48 is provided with a short rigid chute 50 for the empty cartridge casesand a rigid chute 52 for the metallic links. Each chute M is secured toone of the upper guns by a yoke 54 and a bracket 56, and similarly eachchute 50 is secured to one of the lower guns by a yoke .58 and a bracketBil. The lower end of each chute M is positioned just above the mouth ofthe lower chute 50, and the mouth of each lower chute c is extendedinwardly toward the column [6 to receive the empty cartridge cases whichpass through the upper chute. The chutes 46, 50' and 52 at each side ofthe gun mount terminate in a common outlet 62 (Fig. 3) having outwardlyflaring margins provided with fastenings for attaching the open upperend portion of a flexible conduct-or 64 (Fig. 2). As shown in 1, thereare two such flexible conductors, one at each side of the gun mount.Spent ammunition elements pass through the flexible conductors and intoa fixed funnel 68 (Fig. 1), which directs said elements downwardlythrough an opening in the bottom of the fuselage. As illustrated in Fig.1, each flexible conductor is a generally cylindrical fabric memberarranged in upright position and sup-- ported solely by its connectionto the outlet 62 of the rigid chutes. The flexible conductors are constructed and arranged to expand and contract during movement of the gunsin elevation and have inserted therein a spiral wire, or alternatively,a series of generally parallel metallic hoops, to prevent theconductors, from collapsing and thus impeding the discharge of the spentammunition elements. Inasmuch as the flexible conductors are required tomove with .the gun assembly in azimuth their lower or outlet. portionsare secured to a plate or ring 68 (Fig. 3) havin a web portion Hi whichextends into the center of the ring and terminates in a plate i2 securedby screws 74 to the hub of a gear segment (not shown) comprising part ofthe base mounting of the column I6. For fastening the flexibleconductors to the ring 58 the ring is provided with upstanding,outturned tabs some of which are shown at T6 in Fig. 3, each tab beingprovided with a headed stud for fastening a predetermined portion of theflexible conductor to the tab. The outlet portion of each flexibleconductor registers with an opening 18 in the ring 68 and spent ammunition elements passing through said opening in the ring are receivedby the funnel 66. Referring to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the funnel,which is shown in section in said figure, is shaped to fit into theirregular space available for it beneath the ring 58. Said funnel has acylindrical central section 86 which extends about the lower bearing ofthe column It. In order to insure the discharge of the spent ammunitionelements into the funnel when the gun assembly is in an extreme positionin azimuth,'the funnel is provided with generally parallel portionsextending forwardly of the airplane and overlying the crosshead [2.These forward extensions have bottom surfaces 82 sloping downwardlytoward the outlet portion of the funnel and side walls 84 which divergerearwardly and terminate respectively in the cylindrical portion and theupper margin of the body portion of the funnel. As shown in Fig. 2, thefunnel 66 is secured by brackets 86 to the bottom of the fuselageadjacent to an openin 88 provided in the fuselage for the outlet of thespent. ammunition elements.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a gun mount, a plurality of guns, a column on which the guns aresupported for movement in elevation, rigid chutes secured to said gunsand arranged to conduct spent ammunition elements therefrom, a flexibleconductor one end of which is connected to said vchutes, a ring securedto the column and arranged to provide a mounting for the other .end ofsaid flexible conductor, said ring having an opening through which spentammunition elements pass from the flexible conductor.

2. In a gun mount, a plurality of guns, a column on which the guns aresupported ,for movement in elevation, rigid chutes secured to said gunsand arranged to conduct spent ammunition elements therefrom. a flexibleconductor one end of which is connected to said chutes, a ring securedto the column and arranged to provide a mounting for the other end ofsaid flexible conductor, said ring having an opening through which spentammunition elements pass from the flexible conductor, and a fixed funnelconstructed and arranged to receive spent ammunition ele ments passingthrough the opening in the ring.

3,. In a gun mount, four guns, a column on which the guns are supportedfor movement in elevation, two guns being mounted at each side of thecolumn, rigid chutes secured to the guns and arranged to conduct spentammunition elements therefrom, two flexible conductors one at each sideof the column for conducting spent ammunition elements from said rigidchutes, a ring secured to the column and arranged to provide a mountingfor each of said flexible conductors, said ring being open to permit thepassage of spent ammunition elements from the flexible conductor.

GEORGE K. RICHARDSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,336,557 McCallister Dec. 14,1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 785,893 France May 27, 1935

